Williams, Castro power TNT past Magnolia

Vintage Kelly Williams and Jason Castro carried TNT to a playoffs seat after beating sour-shooting Magnolia, 98–93, in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup Sunday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Playing with a sense of urgency in the last elimination playdate of the all-Filipino conference, the Tropang Giga turned to their veterans to formally take them to the next round and avoid complications of a possible playoff for the quarterfinals seat.

The 42-year-old Williams paced TNT in its sixth win in 11 games with 19 points he spiked with eight rebounds and four assists as he led the Tropang Giga build a sizeable gap that cushioned the Hotshots’ fourth quarter rally.

But come crunch time, Castro hit the biggest baskets towards the end of the game, keeping TNT safe.

The 37-year-old top guard scored six of his 18 points in the fourth period including a jumper that gave the Tropang Giga a 97-88 lead with 41 seconds left.

Castro shot six-of-10 from the field and had seven assists and four boards for TNT, which recovered from a blowout loss from quarterfinals top seed and twice-to-beat San Miguel Beer last week.

“I think the most important thing in this game is the fight and the effort of the players coming off a very painful loss the last timeout. To still come in with a lot of courage to play a very strong Magnolia team,” Tropang Giga coach Chot Reyes said.

The mentor was particularly happy with the performance of Williams and Castro, who unfortunately hurt his left hand in the last 18 ticks of the game trying to cushion his fall after getting fouled by Paul Lee.

Williams has been struggling with back issues in the past games while Castro is nursing a jumper’s knee.

“Today we had a full Kelly and a full Jayson. I hope Jayson’s fine. Hopefully, we can bring this to the next games that we are going to face in the playoffs,” Reyes said.

“They are both a huge part of what we want to do as a team.”

TNT led by as many as 18 points only to get a scare when Mark Barroca connected a trey that got Magnolia within five, 98-93, with 23 seconds left. Castro got fouled in the next play but missed both his free throws, Barroca then bricked his trey in the other end before Calvin Oftana collared the rebound to secure the win.

Magnolia finished with a 6-5 record tied with TNT, Rain or Shine and Meralco but could dive to No. 7 seed with a twice-to-win disadvantage against No. 2 Barangay Ginebra San Miguel if NLEX beats the Gin Kings in their final elims match as of press time.

The Tropang Giga will take on the Elasto Painters in the best-of-three quarters.